A Proposed Stereochemical Mechanism for the Improved Preparation of Maleic Anhydride Cycloadduct of CLA

The fatty acid derivatives, prepared from renewable natural oils, can be used as highly promising and potential substitutes for petrochemicals. The study of process improvement and stereochemical mechanism for preparing these derivatives would be beneficial for their industrial production. Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) containing 9cis-11trans (9c, 11t) and 10trans-12cis (10t, 12c) isomers was prepared from Salicornia herbacea seed oil. Maleic anhydride cycloadduct of CLA (MAC) was prepared by an improved process, and it was characterized by FTIR, 1H and 13C NMR, etc. A new method to calculate conformers-ratio of CLA or MAC was also developed. Furthermore, the stereochemical mechanism for the improved preparation of MAC was proposed primarily by the calculation method above. The following observations were made: 1) The yield of MAC could reach as high as 96.7% under mild reaction conditions and with an easy and efficient product separation; 2) The trans-trans CLA in the s-cis conformation acted as a predominant reactant to Diels-Alder [4 + 2] cycloaddition of maleic anhydride, which was the main reaction occurred simultaneously with catalytic configurational isomerizations of CLA in one step; 3) From all studied CLA conformers, the most stable conformation was the s-trans conformation of trans-trans CLA, while the s-cis conformation of trans-trans CLA had the most favorable structural parameters for cyclohexenyl ring formation; 4) Four MAC conformers derived from 9c, 11t- and 10t, 12c-CLA, were obtained as final main products that were determined to be cis-cycloadducts; 5) The endo/exo ratios of the cis- cycloadducts derived from 9c, 11t- and 10t, 12c-CLA, were 2.14:1 and 1.99:1, respectively; and 6) The results obtained from the calculation method above were in excellent accordance with those from our experiments.